Mario said:
>>>
> To me, Panic Attack is brutally bleak. The thriller element
> interested me far less than the nasty people whose layers Jason peels > away, methodically. If you wanted your average prosperous American
> family in focus, well, there it is.
Panic Attack is indeed bleak, but I thought there was more humor throughout than in previous books.
It's not quite as over-the-top* as the Bust/Slide/Max trilogy, but it approaches that territory with its pitch black humor that often stems from the dissonance between how the characters view reality versus what the reader can spot coming a mile way. Panic Attack serves as a nice companion piece to Westlake's The Ax in this regard.
Chris
*not at all meant as an insult to the trilogy!
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